CD Reviews

Synaesthesia - 'Desideratum' (Cleopatra) 2 1/2 stars

Mike Reed | USA | 06/21/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Band's second release,key players for this studio project are Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber.Two CD's,duration is two hours and twenty minutes.Best described as industrial/electronic with a somewhat 'sinister' edge to it.As a friend of mine put it,'Desideratum' is borderline tolerable.As for myself,I prefer to listen to one disc per time I choose to check it out.Tracks that I most remember noticing were "Orion Nebula","Dark Core","Barred Spirals" and the fifteen-minute "Lifeless".Might appeal to fans of Front Line Assembly,Delerium,Surface 10,Philip Glass and Red Shift."

Dark, haunting, and quite good!

Benoit Casey | Moncton, New-Brunswick | 05/01/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Upon first listen, this album fell into my "good" categorie. The second time I listened to it, previously unnoticed nuances begin to shine through, bringing this album up to "pretty good". After the third listen, it moved to the "excellent" category. Make no mistake, this is a totally "ambient" type album, not really something you can dance too! It's also very dark and very haunting. I found it perfect to lose one's self in it; lush musical textures over lush musical textures. "Umbra", "Dark Core" and "Lumia" are incredible! Recommended for a great escape!"

Very interesting

Michael Johnson | Glendale, CA USA | 02/24/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Disc one starts out with an awesome light techno/electronica song. It's very uplifting, fast, and the best track on this album. Listening to it now as I am writing this, and I can't help mut move slightly with the beats. Ahhh! This set is almost worth to buy just for this first song alone. The disc then proceeds to much slower, ambient songs. Track 3 is also pretty cool. It has more of a beat to it than the other tracks, and it's easy to groove to, although it is still pretty slow. The rest of the tracks are good, having some melody and rhythm, not being pure ambient, but they still retain slow feels, overall pretty good. I wish Synaesthesia would have kept to the beats of track one, as it carries this album, but they were probably going for a soft ambient feel rather than pumping techno. Without it, I probably wouldn't have given 3 stars.Disc two is very, very dark. It is very slow, the complete definition of ambient music. Not much beats or rhythm to it, but it is very interesting to listen too. But, like Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2, you have to be in the right mood to listen to it. I have probably listened to the first disc ten times more than the second disc, as it just doesn't effect me as the first disc, let alone the first song. If you're into dark, deep ambient, then this would be good for you, but it isn't too great in my opinion."

I Love this Album

Dave | Hell | 06/18/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Beautiful songs and sounds. Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber of Frontline Assembly are amazing musicians.
The first 3 songs on the 1st disk are my favorite. They are perfect to listen to when reading a good book, or when your chilling out or looking at the stars or something like that.
Another reviewer said that this album is for when your by yourself, I could'nt agree more. Its not a party album or a dancey album or anything like that, its more of a Tangerine Dream style album. This album will put you in a relaxed trance, and it will make you think, and then think some more.
If you like Delerium, Frontline Assembly, Will, Intermix, Equinox or any of Leebs projects you'll really enjoy this album.Its very cool."